Adventures of a young man and a dog named Dan

[JD]

Part 1

The Hunt Is On


This story begins in the summer of 1995, right after I graduated from high school. It is the story of how I got my first bird dog, and the adventures we shared that would change my life forever.

When I was younger, I hunted everything I legally could. My father did not hunt, so I had to learn/teach myself. While I did love deer hunting, my favorite was birds. I hunted them all. Crow, dove, quail, pheasant, turkey, and waterfowl were all chased after with enthusiasm. I had a great time, but it soon became apparent that this would be a whole lot easier with a dog. Not just any dog, but the king of bird dogs. The German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP). I love everything about the GSP. The markings, the build, the personality, the way they hunt, everything. After getting permission from my parents, the hunt was on. However, I ran into a small snag. I soon realized how hard it was going to be to find a good dog for a cheap price. Working part-time for $4.25/hour wasn’t going to get me that dog any time soon. So, I started saving money and stashing a little bit here and there. So little, in fact, that four months later I still only had about $200 stashed away. At the time, a good GSP pup would cost you $500. And that didn’t include vet bills, food, supplies, etc.

Then, one night I was in our back room reloading shotgun shells. My father hollered at me from the dining room, and I went out to see what he wanted. He told me to go grab a beer and have a seat (yes, I have a great father, LOL). So I grabbed a bottle of Coors, and sat down at the table. He then went on to tell me that he had just gotten off the phone with my cousin. My cousin had told him they had a dog that would be perfect for me. What came next kind of deflated my sails a bit. The dog was not the GSP puppy I had hoped for. It was a six month old Llewellyn Setter. I had my heart set on a GSP puppy, heck I had never even heard of a Llewellyn. But, on the plus side, the price was right, at $150. Also, my cousin knew his bird dogs. I just had to go pick him up, which was a five hour drive one way. I had some thinking to do.

Fast forward five days. I had made the decision to go get the Llewellyn. I had also managed to get into a nasty car accident. I was stopped, waiting to turn, and a guy rear ended me going close to 45 mph. I was sore, my car was totaled, and I was driving a rental. A rental that, “shall NOT leave the state of Illinois”. Well, I’m in Illinois, dog is in Iowa. Yeah right, like that stupid “contract” is going to stop me. LOL So, come Saturday morning, I picked my buddy up at 4:00 AM, and the adventure began.

[allhunter]

wow sounds like a story lets hear more!!!!

[terminator]

Great story!!! More,more!!!!

[mrdlschmidt]

next chapter please...........

[JD]

Part 2

Roadtrip

I pulled up the long drive of my friend’s farm at 4:00 AM on the dot. After he got in, and we gave each other our early morning grunts, we were on the road. We got on Route 30 and headed west. The rental car I had been provided by my insurance company was a brand new 1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 2 door. With Alan Jackson blaring on the radio, we made great time. We pulled into the driveway of my cousin’s house a little after 8:00. There family had just gotten up, and we went inside for a big breakfast of venison sausage and eggs.

After breakfast was done, we headed out back to see the dogs. My cousin Clint had a great dog. His name was Jake, and he was a German Wired Hair pointer. Ugly as sin, but a great family dog and hunter. Then, I got to see my new pal. He was a beautiful dog. Long haired, mainly white with black speckles, and brown on his face. I was then told that his official name was Bondhu’s Dandy Blizzard. Bondhu and Blizzard being two separate Llewellyn bloodlines going back to the early 1870’s. Since Bondhu’s Dandy Blizzard was quite a mouthful, I shortened Dandy and named him Dan.

While we were there, my cousin gave me a few training tips. He had been working with him, and showed me how he was doing. He had a very solid start, and seemed to really enjoy what he was doing. He was tracking very well, pointing, and even retrieving. Soon enough it was time to get in the car and head east.

We decided to stop and eat a late lunch in Williamsburg, IA. Found a parking spot in Arby’s nearly packed lot, and got Dan out for a walk. He was just riding in the backseat, but I wanted him to do his business outside, not in a brand new rental car. After a brief walk, we took him back to the car and he jumped right into the backseat. He then proceeded to vomit 6 ½ pounds of dogfood onto the floor. It wasn’t really 6 ½ pounds, but it sure seemed like it was that much when I had to clean it up. Even though it was “cleaned up”, we had to make a pit stop in Iowa City. The smell from the vomit left on the floor was just too much to take. So, I ran into WallyWorld real quick and bought some supplies. After that was cleaned AGAIN, we got back on the road.

We pulled into my driveway right around 5:00 PM. When we got into the house, he was greeted by the resident guard cat Patricia. That, didn’t go so well. She swatted him three times in the nose and took off. Dan looked up at me like I did it to him.LOL Then he got to meet the other cat, Freddie. This introduction went much smoother as this cat really didn’t care about anything. Then we got him settled into his new house.

Pheasant season was coming fast, opening was in three weeks. We had a lot to do in a short time to get him somewhat ready. Lots to do, lots to do.

[deerslayer]

Very good reading so far.......

[passinthru]

Great story!!! More More more!!!

[allhunter]

great story keep it comin its inspiring me for when i get my dog next year hopefully

[bertman]

Very nice read.

[JD]

Part 3

A Natural


Dan quickly settled into his new home. I was expecting some problems as he was an outside dog all of his life, and now he was an inside dog. But there were not really any problems what so ever. He had one “accident” in the house, and it was just because I didn’t get to the door fast enough. I also soon learned that this dog was going to have to run, a lot.

I talked to my father, and he said I could fence in the back yard. As long as it was chain link fencing. I explained to him that 6’ chain link fence was too expensive for me. He suggested I put up a 4’ fence. I was a bit flabbergasted by this, wouldn’t he just jump over it? Then my father went on to explain that if a dog like that is going to jump a 4’ fence, he’ll jump a 6’ fence. I had never really thought about it like that. So, I quickly installed 400’ of 4’ chain link fence. By myself. It wasn’t terribly difficult as I had installed, literally, thousands of feet of chain link when I had worked at an ostrich farm in high school.

Dan really appreciated this, and was always running his heart content. Shortly after the fence was put up, he started this quirky routine. When you would let him out the back door he would run across the deck and down the steps to the yard. He would run out 5 feet or so, turn around and head back up the stairs. He would then put his nose to the top step for 1 or 2 seconds, then take off back down the steps into the yard. I never did figure this out, but he did it EVERY single time you let him out.

We kept working every day in anticipation of opening day of pheasant season. Tracking, pointing, retrieving, over and over. I was amazed at how fast Dan progressed. He was simply a natural at this. When he was working a trail, he was very “birdie”. You knew when he was onto something. His points were very natural. He would lock up quick, and hard. His retrieving was absolutely wonderful. He had a soft mouth, and was always eager to bring it back to you. There was no doubt in my mind, we would be ready for opening morning.

[JD]

Part 4

Opener


In final preparations for opening day, I took Dan up to the shooting range with me. Under advice from my Cousin Clint, I first hooked Dan up to a line 25 feet behind me. I started with a 22lr just to see how he would react. He was curious, but not scared in the least. Then I brought out the 12ga loaded with a 1oz target load. Again, he was just curious. Then I stepped it up to a high base 1 1/4oz pheasant load. This got his attention more than any of the previous. But again, it was more curiosity. So, I released him off of the line. He came right up with me to the firing line, and I shot another pheasant load. I looked down at him, and he looked up at me with a look on his face that could be best described as “you missed”. Now for the tricky part. Holding my shotgun with my right hand, I threw the retrieving decoy with my left. I then snapped the shotgun up, and popped off a round. Decoy fell, and I gave Dan the retrieve command of “FETCHEM UP!”. Dan took off like a firecracker went off under his butt and proudly returned the decoy to me just like he had done so many times before.

This year, pheasant season opened on Sunday November 5th. I once again pulled up the long farm drive well before sunrise to pick up my buddy Mike. I hooked Dan up outside and went inside for a cup of coffee and to discuss the up coming day with Mike. As we sat there talking about when we would be picking their other farm, Mike’s father came out to join us. Normally he would be hunting with us on opening morning, but told us he would not be this morning. He wished us luck, and out the door he went to go do whatever it is old farmers do before sunrise. We finished up, and had decided which field we were going to hunt first. We were going to “the honey hole” first thing. Normally we wait until a bit later in the season to hit this place. There is always a ton of birds, but it is tough going this early in the season with the taller grass. We also usually only hunt it with a minimum of four people, but today it was only us two. But, this was the first time we had Dan, and we felt very confident.


Here is an aerial photo of where we hunted that day.





The red lines indicate the boundaries of the CRP fields. That small river running in the middle is roughly 50’ wide and has a maximum depth of 5’.

We pulled up on the east side right at sunrise. It was a perfect morning. The sky was clear, crisp 27* temperature, and a slight breeze out of the north. As we were unloading our gear, the cackles of pheasants pierced the air. Perfect. We had parked a couple hundred yards south of where we would start hunting. I kept Dan on a check cord some 25’ long. He was attached to one end, I was on the other. This was done out of precaution as I wanted to see how he would do in this new environment. Just as we entered the CRP, Dan started acting birdie. He was on a trail, and working it very well. We slowly progressed further letting him figure this out, and then there it was. He locked up on point at his first wild bird. I softly instructed him to stay, and worked in closer to him. Just as I got up behind Dan, the grass exploded as a full grown roster busted into the morning air, cackling the whole way up. There were two quick shots, and the bird was down in the thickest spot. I released Dan off of the line, and instructed him to Fetchem up! He took off with great enthusiasm and disappeared into the 6’ tall grass. Mere moments later, he came bounding out, rooster in his mouth and proudly brought it to me. Excellent. I did not hook Dan back up. Instead, I let him do his own thing.

Dan’s hunting was simply beautiful. He would get out 30-50 feet in front of us, but never get too far. He would work back and forth across the strip smelling for tracks. Soon he was on another hot trail. This time it took longer as the bird was moving. After 30 feet or so he locked up on point. We moved in, and up came a hen. No shots, as hens are not legal birds. Then, I got “the look” from Dan. It was like, “what the heck man?”

We continued on, and by the time we got close to the end of the first tract we had limited out 2 roosters each. It was a great day hunting over my new friend.

[deerslayer]

Really good story JD, enjoying it very much

[mrdlschmidt]

Really enjoying the read.

[bertman]

Very nice read.

[allhunter]

man i just keeps getting better

[passinthru]

It just keeps getting better.

[JD]

Part 5

A Great Season


That first season with Dan was simply awesome. We hunted together a total of 27 days together, and bagged 49 wild roosters. We also managed to squeeze in a couple preserve hunts and took 8 roosters and 6 hens that were pen raised. This is not counting all the other pheasants that my friends shot over him.

By the end of that first season, Dan and I had really bonded. We had learned a lot about each other. We had some really great times together.

A couple weeks into the season, we went back to the same spot we hunted opening morning. It was the third time we had been there this season. In the previous trip, we limited out within 15 minutes. Dan also discovered the river, and how much he liked to swim in it. This time, as soon as we approached the CRP field, he took off like a shot for the river. I heard him splashing down there, seemed like he was having a great time. I walked over as close as I could get, but couldn’t see him. The river sits 10 feet below, and there is thick grass right up to the edge. You do not get close to that edge, unless you really enjoy a fall quickly followed by wetness. I called for Dan, and he just kept splashing. I called louder, and he just kept splashing. I waited a moment, and was just getting ready to holler again when the splashing stopped. I could here him making his was back up the embankment. Bout damn time. He finally gets up to the top, and starts coming through the grass towards me. And then I see him. He is soaking wet, covered in foul smelling mud, dragging a dead Canadian goose! Yep, he managed to catch/kill a full grown honker. My mind starts going in ten different directions. Where we are is right off a major highway. I do not want to get caught anywhere near this thing. I also know I can’t really scold him. He was only doing what was natural to him, get birds. We get rid of the honker, and go on our merry way.

A few days later, we find ourselves on some new property. It was another beautiful morning, nice and cold with no clouds or wind. It isn’t a huge field, but it is a hundred yards wide and 3-400 yards long. Typical CRP field, but it isn’t the thick stuff. The farmer who granted us permission told me he has seen a lot of pheasants and rabbits in here. Yummy. I release Dan off of his lead once we make the ¼ mile hike back to the field. He immediately goes to work, and it seems like he really loves it. I had high hopes, as he was acting birdie 50 yards before the CRP field. Sure enough, within a couple minutes he is locked up on point, his flag raised high and proud. I slowly walk up to him, at the ready. Nothing. So, I edge up closer and kick the clump of grass in front of his nose. A big, mature pheasant streaks upwards towards sky belting out that beautiful cackle. I snap my 1100 to my shoulder and drop the bird with one round of #6. Dan takes off, and finally gets the bird after a 5 minute search. While I knocked him down with one shot, that old rooster was tough and hit the ground running. I take the bird from Dan’s gently mouth, wring its neck, and put him in my back pouch. On to the next. Within another 50 yards or so, Dan is onto something but he isn’t really acting birdie. He is definitely tracking, but this time it is just a bit different. He finally closes in on a clump of grass, and goes on a very weak point. This is where it gets weird. He inches in towards the clump, something he usually doesn’t do on a bird. Just as his nose is about to touch the grass, he jumps up and back. He hits the ground running, and is running right towards me. I was frozen, not real sure of what I was seeing. After a quick moment, my brain kicks in. Sure enough, he runs right past me, with a rabbit right behind him. He ends up make two big figure eights, rabbit hot on his heels the whole time. After the last circuit, Dan broke left and the rabbit went right. I was laughing so hard I never even tried to shoot it. I figured any rabbit that tough deserved to live. We ended up calling it a morning after that, as Dan was acting very paranoid toward every clump of grass. Like there might be another one of those viscous critters in there. As we were making our way back to the truck I told him; “Your lucky we were hunting alone, if anyone would have been with us I would have had to shoot YOU! Dog runnin’ from a rabbit, never heard of such a thing!”

All in all though, I was a great season. Lots of birds, and lots of laughs.

[bertman]

Another good read

[deerslayer]

Had me worried there for a minute with the water thing...............

[FaTbOyE]

Great read man!!! You write books?? That isa really great start to a book. Keep it up.. More, more!!!!!